Spy shots

First spy shots of the BMW X4 crossover

BMW stretching its SUV line-up with a coupé-ish X3 that they’re calling, wait for it, an X4. Yours in late-2014...

Feast your eyes on the first spy shots of the BMW X4 crossover testing on public roads in Germany, around the company’s Munich headquarters. For its first outing the upcoming X4 isn’t shy to show off a lot of its rakish skin, letting us all get a good glimpse of its X6-inspired profile.

As the name suggests — remember, BMW’s even-numbered cars are now two-doors, and the odd-numbered ones are four-doors — the X4 slots in below the X6 in terms of size, but mimics the coupé-ish profile to earn itself BMW’s preferred SAC acronym, or Sports Activity Coupé.

Naturally it is about the size of the X3, since it’s based on the F30 3 Series and all, and should appear in showrooms next year looking similar to the concept car BMW first showed off in Shanghai earlier this year. Our spies report that something about the proportions looked off, also muttering about space being quite limited and the wheels being too small — but then again they did get their look from some bushes.

The X4 will be produced in BMW’s South Carolina, US, plant and should offer a stylish alternative to the slab-sided X3 and even the wonky 3 Series Gran Turismo, but of course it will carry a higher price tag than either of these models. We can safely expect BMW’s 240bhp 2.0-litre turbocharged four-cylinder to kick things off, with the option of a 300 horsepower 3.0-litre six and ZF’s ubiquitous, and brilliant, eight-speed transmission.

Don’t expect to get behind the wheel of one of these for less than Dh180K when it arrives near the end of next year.